“I have always thought it the duty of nobility to prove their superiority in all fields, not just swordplay.” She paused, glancing at Earnest before continuing. “Academia, for one. Not to mention etiquette. And I think spiritual training is the most important of all. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Lunaria returned Earnest’s glare. A gust of wind blew past, making a bit of Earnest’s hair dance.
Wow. Lunaria can do that trick too, huh? It didn’t work that time, but I bet she could blow someone right through a wall with that look.
“If, by any chance, you might prove yourself useful in some way…I suppose it’s most likely to be in battle.”
“Could you repeat that, please, Lunaria?” Earnest was smiling, but a blue vein was clearly visible on her temple.
“Besides, Earnest, your spiritual training is severely lacking. You’re always griping about that demonic sword controlling you… It’s quite annoying.”
“What…?!” Earnest’s smile disappeared. The “rich girl from a good family” mask had crumbled, exposing her true self—the one her classmates already knew well.
“Really, what we have here is a girl whose only talent is waving a sword around. Don’t you think your ancestors would be rolling in their graves?”
“Wha… Wha… Wha…?!”
“If I were you, I’d be so ashamed, I wouldn’t even reveal that I possessed a magic sword at all. In fact, the sheer embarrassment might drive me to suicide. In fact, I’m sure it would. Positive. Really, I can’t understand how someone could go on living while displaying their shame for all to see.”
“I! Hate! Her! I can hate her, right? That’s okay, right?!” Earnest pointed at Lunaria, appealing to the crowd with tears in her eyes.
Not even Blade could misunderstand her behavior as “cute” any longer. This was definitely more along the lines of “unpleasant.”
Lunaria, seeing Earnest attract sympathetic looks from the audience, scowled. She probably only knew Earnest as the terrifying Empress who ruled over Rosewood with an iron fist. They had been familiar with each other for some time, it seemed, but Lunaria couldn’t have known about the dramatic changes Earnest had gone through over the past few months. She was now friends with 108 people, one dragon, one android, and two birds. She was still scary, of course, but now everyone knew that she was scary in a goofy, messed-up sort of way, with lots of cute little quirks. She was their flawed, yet lovable empress.
She was allowed to tear up and let snot run down her face. Not that she was doing that. Of course she wasn’t.
“Oh? …What’s wrong?” Lunaria seemed to sense something was off. She scrutinized Earnest. “ You seem…different…”
Her eyes turned toward the magic sword at Earnest’s waist.
“Oh… Oh. I see. So you’ve finally succeeded in gaining control over that sword.”
Blade was gazing intently at Lunaria’s face. She wore a look of contempt as usual, with an air of superiority mixed in…but she also looked a bit happy, if he wasn’t mistaken. Blade didn’t really trust his own sensitivities when it came to judging this sort of thing. He’d have to check with someone else later to be certain. But even so…he was sure Lunaria was happy to see Earnest’s growth.
“Good grief. So you’re only just now catching up to the point I reached at the age of ten? It must be so grueling, possessing such average talent.”
Was that a compliment?!
Blade had just learned that telling someone they had “average talent” was an acceptable compliment.
“Heh… Just so you know, I’ve changed,” replied Earnest, puffing out her chest.
One could almost feel the sparks flying between them. They’d be invisible to the regular eye, but Blade could see them clearly. His Hero Eyes were telling him all about the vast, limitless, malicious back-and-forth between the two of them. Neither was moving an inch, but they were feinting, parrying, dodging, and slashing using their spirits alone—a good twenty or so moves in just a few seconds. The atmosphere was so thick, so deadly, they seemed likely to draw their swords the moment they got the chance.
“Lunaria,” suggested a man by her side, “if you continue to toy with such uncouth, uncultured, barbaric country nobility, you risk damaging the good name of the Steinberg family.”
This was no ordinary guy. He was handsome and covered in muscles. Blade wasn’t a very good judge of men’s looks, so he relied on the reactions of the women around him. This was a very rational, intelligent way of going about it, he thought.
“Milady,” Leonard advised Earnest, “the only way to see which one of you is more qualified to bear a magic sword is to stage a battle, no holds barred. I don’t think the Flaming clan is much for verbal sparring anyway. What do you think?”
Both competitors had a faithful man on their side assisting them.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Earnest shot back. “You think I’d lose in an argument?”
Earnest was loudly grumbling at Leonard—a far cry from Lunaria, who simply turned to her adviser and said, “Thank you, Claude.”
“Besides, Leonard, you may be more handsome than Claude, but you’re much less muscular. You need to work out more.”
This did little to improve Leonard’s spirits. Claude, on the other hand, was being thanked and praised. Leonard looked pitiful by comparison.
“Regardless, we had best go look at our lodgings,” said Lunaria. “Good day to you, Your Majesty, and to all of you as well.”
Lunaria headed off in a dignified manner, the four men following behind.
“This is so aggravating. Sooo aggravating… Leonard? What’s the matter with you? Why did you stop me? Why can’t we kill them?!”
“I am sorry, milady. I thought if things continued like that, a swordfight might break out.”
“You just got scared because that other guy had more muscles than you. I lost the argument, and I lost for having a weaker second-in-command. Not one thing went right, did it? It’s all your fault, Leonard!”
“I’ll try to do better, milady.”
“Actually, I think it’d look pretty creepy if you turned into some big macho man, Leonard.” Yessica was trying to comfort him, but it didn’t really work.
Oh, so that’s what it means to lose an argument. I’ve learned another new thing today. I’m so smart.
“You too, Blade. Say something to them.”
Now Yessica was turning to him for advice for some reason.
“…What should I say? What do you want from me?”
“Anything you can think of. Just whatever will make Anna feel better. You know, cheer her up.”
“Anything…? That’s asking a lot…” Blade looked up at the sky and thought for a bit. “You know…it’s just like what Leonard said earlier.”
“What? What did he say?”
Leonard was on his knees, knocked down by Earnest’s harsh words.
“Even if you lost the verbal battle, as long as you win the actual competition, it’s all good, right?”
“I want to do that, okay?! But I lose to her every time. I don’t know if I can beat her this time, either…”
“Sure you will.”
“Huh?”
“I said sure you will,” Blade replied, as if this was a given.
“Huh? R-really?”
“If you fight like normal, it’s gonna be a close match, sure, but… You’ve got that thing, don’t you?”
“The Scion of Flame?”
“Yeah. You got your second form and all that, right? Bust that out, and it’ll be over in a flash, won’t it?”
He said this as an ex-Hero. You couldn’t survive as a Hero unless you could gauge the abilities of those around you. That was a lot harder here at the academy, though, especially among the students in the junior class. It was a bit like trying to measure something less than a millimeter wide with a standard ruler. But once people got to the semi-champion level, Blade was confident he could read their skill levels pretty accurately.
“Really?” asked Earnest. “You really think so? You’re basing that on your assessment of our abilities?”
“What, you don’t trust my eyes?”
“No! I do! I trust you all the way! But… Wow…”
Earnest broke into a big smile. In an instant, she was in bright spirits once again. Blade looked at Yessica. She was giving him an “if you say so” look.
Um, was that the wrong thing to say? Oh, well.